Karakuri Doji: A New Dawn
by ObsidianVioletNightRain
Summary: A new world, a new time, a new dawn, the doji are back, with new masters. A tiny bit of crossovering, all OCs... I got bored with the original plotline and all the yaoi between the dolls. I aprrove of cursing so. Don't like? Don't read.


Karakuri Dôji: The New Dawn

Sakura jerked awake as someone kicked the chair she was sitting in. She yawned and stretched before turning around to find out who had been the guilty party. A dark chocolate brown-haired boy blinked at her as she stared at him drowsily. It was the class genius, known more commonly known Bakachibi; Bakachi for short.

"What the hell was that for?" she asked, more awake now, and DEFINITELY more irritated.

He pointed wordlessly at the front of the classroom and Sakura turned around. Mr. Kazuhiko, her teacher for this year, stood at the head, while everyone else around her stared at her. The teacher was tapping his foot and his arms were crossed.

"Pleasant dreams, Miss Uchiha?" he asked in a clipped voice.

Sakura leaned back in chair, the two front legs rising off the ground.

Oh well, she was already in for it, why not make it worth her trouble? She was really losing it if Mr. Kazuhiko caught her sleeping. Her senses must starting to dull.

"Not especially but well enough," she replied honestly and some of the kid surrounded her laughed.

She glared at them all, daring them to continue their snickers. Immediate silence fell. Mr. Kazuhiko's jaw locked and he glowered at Sakura. She didn't mind—she met his stare evenly, leaning forward with her upper body as an unspoken, yet flat-out challenge. Her chair fell back on four legs with a bang.

He was no match, even as the elder and teacher. He closed his eyes and turned his head away. Sakura snorted, leaning back in the chair again. She had the darkest, most terrifying stare in the whole city and everybody knew it. Though, nobody was really surprised after they considered her past.

"See me after class, Sakura." The teacher said in aggravation and she scowled back at him with defiance that made the class blanch.

"Oh, _YES SIR,_" she remarked, sarcasm and irritation dripping from the words.

Kazuhiko frowned and the bell rang. The students filed quickly out of the classroom as Mr. Kazuhiko barked, "Class dismissed!"

He turned to Sakura, who leaned and let her chair's legs fall back to the ground once more with another loud thud.

The teacher sat down at his desk beckoned to Sakura. The latter rolled her eyes and began to approach as slowly as possible. Mr. Kazuhiko looked at a sheet of paper.

"Now Sakura," he began and the pale skinned, black haired girl snorted, tossing her long straight ponytail over her shoulders in a way that said, "Don't give me that kind of shit"

Mr. Kazuhiko ignored this and continued, "You're grades have been generally high in this class—that is, up until recently. They've dropped rather dramatically. As have your respect for teachers, other students, yourself, and seemingly life in general. Has something happened?"

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she thought, _Hell yeah, you could call it that. You don't know half of it!_

But instead of saying that, Sakura looked at the man in front of her straight in the eyes, her obsidian eyes glittering with anger and bloodlust.

"It's none of your business," she ground out through her tightly clenched teeth. "Piss off."

Mr. Kazuhiko stood up abruptly, though Sakura was about as tall as the middle aged teacher. He was angry, it was obvious. She had disrespected him directly to his face, but lately, it hadn't been going well for her either, so she felt no pity. But the signs of anger were intensely obvious. The body language, posture, the tone of his voice, the enraged expression, the weird vein that as popping out on his forehead, the bright red color of his ears... they all pointed to "FURIOUS".

"Don't use that tone with me!" he snapped, slamming his palm down hard on the surface of his desk; Sakura looked at him with disdain and didn't even attempt to contain a vicious sneer.

"Or what?" she asked, coolly and nonchalantly; she wasn't afraid because she had no reason to be. "You'll give me a detention? I don't care. You'll recommend me for counseling and help? I don't care. You'll send me to the principal's office, put me up for suspension of expulsion?" she slammed her own hand on the desk, though harder and louder. "_I. DON'T. CARE._"

The man standing in front of Sakura looked stiff and like he was losing control of his anger. She could feel his frustration pooling out from him like waves. She turned, starting towards the door. She liked his search of desperation of something that would break through her heartlessness. Suddenly he said the words loudly and clearly, breathing hard.

"I'll be telling your parents then. I doubt your family would like this."

Sakura froze, her hand deathly white as it gripped the doorknob with painful strength. Her body rippled with fury that surpassed the minutes before entirely. She whipped around, her expression a sight to behold, her canines gnashed together in a snarl. Mr. Kazuhiko instinctually backed up as she staggered over to him, fists clenched at her side. He looked appalled at the words that he had said and immediately tried to apologize rather meekly under her rage but she cut him off.

"_Excuse you,_" she said, quietly seething, wanting nothing more than to rip his head off and send it rolling back to his family. "_But let me remind you of something that you seem to have forgotten. Not everyone is as happy as they seem in this rich-ass school. _My parents—my whole family goddammit—are dead, save my younger brother, who is missing at the moment! They're _DEAD_, killed by an assassin." (Sakura always failed to mention that this assassin was her older brother on orders from a higher authority. Now he too was dead.) "_So go ahead and try to tell them, lay some flowers on their graves while you're at it._" Sakura slammed the door as she stormed out.

Mr. Kazuhiko had the good sense not to stop her and Sakura was thankful of at least that. She walked home as the sky, already dark and cloudy, began pouring its wet contents down. She looked up; drops began streaking down her face like tears as the drizzle steadily became a downpour. Sakura thought with tired lament of her family and brothers yet again and stifled a dry sniff.

_ Ah... This-THIS is rain,_ she remembered the words of her friend and thought he couldn't have been more right.

* * *

She walked inside the bleak, dark mansion she'd somehow inherited. That was what happened when your relatives all died: they left you a lot, not to mention the pain, the hole in her heart. She shut the tall, intricately carved door and dumped her wet coat and bags on the ground. She went up the stairs slowly and, after dumping her clothes in a wet mess in her room, climbed into a large hot bath. These always calmed her down.

She tied her hair up in a bun and sighed in absolute irritation, letting the tepid water soak into her light skin. She began muttering to herself, positively brooding.

"Every day," she mumbled, leaning back into the hot water. "Some idiot has to bring up an unpleasant relic of my past. Sure, I'm filthy rich and up to my head in money, but at what cost? The life of everyone that I ever shared a trace of bloodline with, save Sasuke. But he's going to end up killing himself, the rate he's going. Hmph..." she sighed angrily, immersing her shoulders deeper into the water before she started murmuring again. "_PEOPLE_—they just don't appreciate life's gifts enough, if at all. I'm envious of their oblivious incompetence of daily life. How many things do they honestly take for granted?"

Sakura reached over to the side of her soaking pot and picked up a small bottle of black nail polish. In its place, she took out the six earrings—two silver hoops and four studs of the same—and placed them on the ground so they didn't rust.

She brandished the tiny black brush with the expertise and finesse of a professional. First her toes, then her fingers—dammit, she messed up, fix it...

She let her thoughts wander back to today and snorted at her pathetic being of a teacher. What feeble, futile excuses. He could try as he liked, but he simply wasn't going receive much feedback from her, for one—no, two—reasons. And then one of those reasons walked into the room.

Suddenly, a rather well dressed boy walked in. He had a white dinner jacket on over a darker collared button-down shirt. His pants were a pale snow color as well and his shoes were fancy and composed of leather. He shook his fluffy pink hair out of his face and gave a charming smile. He took a step in and blinked at Sakura. The dark haired girl blinked back at him in surprise before plunging her body into the steamy water, trying to hide her body with the fog.

"Ah, sorry, Master," the boy said, giving a beaming smirk that looked alluring all the same.

Sakura glared at him, locking her jaw pointedly and he laughed; the boy turned around, and put his hands over his eyes.

"That better?" he asked, "I swear on whatever principles you'd like that I can't see anything."

Sakura huffed in aggravation, rolling her eyes as she rushed to finish bathing, unintentionally splashing loudly. The boy laughed and she chucked a sponge at him.

"Only slightly mollified," she said, glaring at the back of his head; he laughed as his spine quivered in anticipation. "And why did you come in here again, Désir?"

Désir took in a deep breath to stop himself from shivering and laughing. Sakura glowered at the back of his head until he calmed himself and finally answered.

"Well, I couldn't help myself. Your bloodlust and jealousy was radiating off of you in ginormous waves. For the dôji of lust, I simply couldn't stay away. It was... so... enticing, so arousing." He said, making his tones seductive and sexy.

Sakura blushed, having risen out of the bath and draped a towel around her. Désir, even if he was the dôji of lust, was hard to resist when he tried to be so alluring like this...

"Jealousy said that—" Désir began, turning around and putting his hands on Sakura's waist, eyes reflecting the desire he embodied.

He was interrupted by the entrance of another boy, one as pale as Sakura and the same dark hair, though his split off into eight perfect segments. Dark circles under his eyes made him look malevolent and sleep deprived, as opposed to Désir, who looked confident, cocky, and, at the moment, damn right sexy. Both Mechanical Boys, however, belayed calm expressions and stances, as if they were in control of the situation. Both, however superior and android-like as they were, looked completely and utterly human.

As opposed to Désir, who dressed in white, Jealousy wore a dark suit, with a white dress shirt and a tie. He hung his jacket on the door knob and rolled up his sleeves neatly to the point of his elbow.

"I'm perfectly capable of telling the master of my actions by myself, Désir," Jealousy said, frowning.

Désir smirked and continued; Jealousy's presence shook Sakura and she realized what Désir had been doing. She blushed and smacked him, but he looked quite unabashed. How dare he try his charm on her!

"Jealousy said that we _probably_ shouldn't come in here and disturb you, but I quite disagreed," Désir gave a winning smile and through her irritancy, Sakura felt a blush creep across her cheeks.

Sakura glared at the two dôji with a look of supreme aggravation as she made a break for her room and slammed the door shut behind her. The two dôji blinked and shrugged, taking this to be their cue to leave; the two boys silently left, walking down the stairs and only then did Sakura start breathing again.

After she had dressed herself in more comfortable clothes than those atrocious school uniforms, Sakura made her way down the many flights of stairs in her house of the moment. She ran down the fourth flight, three steps at a time, did agile back handsprings to the floor, landing perfectly on the second flight's banister and sliding down to land on the second floor. She then walked calmly down to her waiting dôji.

Sakura's only thoughts on her show of getting down were, _'Taking each stairway and walking down takes time and energy that I'd rather not waste.'_

She swept over to the door where she donned a black trench coat. She looked back at her dôji, her pride in fashion sense almost exuding as she cocked her head at them.

She had dressed more to Jealousy's style—dark. She wore black skinny jeans with knee high dark boots over lapping them. Her t-shirt was black and tight and had flecks of crimson dashed across the bottom left like blood stains. She had replaced four out of the six earrings, leaving the top row of studs out, and her hair was up, held up by a pair of chopsticks.

After Jealousy and Désir had murmured their approval of the outfit, Sakura beamed and went on.

"I'm just going out for a while," she told the both of them, "But I was going to ask the two of you to come, if you don't make too much of a nuisance of yourselves."

Both nodded; they were eager to get out of the house and possibly wreck at least a slight amount of havoc. The three grabbed umbrellas, as the rain had not decided to cease yet.

* * *

No sooner had the sixteen year old and her servants walked into the dreary city, then Sakura heard shrill accusations of thievery coming from elsewhere. She detoured to find the source and was highly disappointed. After investigating, the threesome had come across two younger girls, about 14-15 years of age, still in their school uniforms, arguing in front of the local taco shop, in the center of town. The opposing sides sat under an outside table, tacos in front of them.

One was slightly taller than the other; she had pale blue eyes, bearing strong resemblance to icy shards as of the moment. Her light blonde hair fell around—from Sakura's estimation—three inches from her shoulders and a starry headband held her hair into place. Her snow white skin was somewhat lighter than Sakura's and the girl was shrieking at the top of her lungs at her friend, in a fit of blind rage.

Sakura observed that her friend was much darker in comparison to the first girl—hell, everything looked darker in comparison to that skin! But the screaming girl's friend was a shade darker than a cup of hot cocoa. Her hair looked darker-than-chocolate brown and her bangs were swooped slightly to one side.

Sakura and the dôji didn't even have to attempt in the least to hear what the two were saying; Sakura would have been surprised to know that people in the next town had not heard the both of them. It was like someone had put them on an international worldwide microphone. And what disappointed Sakura the most was that the conversation wasn't even worth listening to.

"YOU STOLE MY TACO!" shrieked the first girl; Sakura was sure that her face said, "WTF" as soon as the words left the girl's lips. "Give it back, Sydni!"

The other girl, most presumably Sydni, looked hurt and defiant.

"But Ireni, you have _fifteen,_" she pointed out and Sakura bit her tongue until it bled so she didn't actually say, "_What the hell, SERIOUSLY?"_

More people were staring as the argument progressed and looked incredulous at the ridiculous scene.

"SO?" Ireni looked appalled, as if this was such a miniscule amount. She stomped her foot in frustration, "I wanted more than that, give it _back_!"

Sakura blinked and double took as she watched frost spread underneath Ireni's feet for a second.

_I... I thought I was the only one who had elemental manipulation in this small town... And what the hell? Are her ears pointed? An ice elf? _ Sakura thought wildly. _Hmm... _She contemplated the possibilities.

There was a sudden, hard poke in the back and Sakura instinctively spun around in fury, preparing to bring her forearm down on the head of the offender. A strong hand stopped her by catching her wrist and clenching their fingers around her arm in a steel-like grip. Sakura's eyes widened in confusion; _no one could have... how did they...?_ Her thoughts whirled around as she questioned her power and force she was using. She looked into the face of the person who had stopped her and her eyes narrowed into a much more Sakura-like state.

The man was tall in a school uniform, though most of his skin left exposed by the clothes was covered in bandages. His expression was totally and utterly blank as he stared at Sakura, just standing there, holding her arm in the upward angle she had been using to strike.

The poke this time was directed from the side but Désir grabbed the attackers arm as Sakura's arm had been caught. Sakura glanced over at the person and saw an embarrassed girl with dusty light brown hair beaming at her. Her smile widened and Sakura rolled her eyes when she saw her elongated canines, the mark of a vampire. Her faded gray-black skinny jeans were ripped at and below the knees, revealing light cream colored skin. She wore a purple shirt splashed with silver swirls and vines; the light violet matched her eyes almost perfectly.

"Hiya, Sakura!" she said sheepishly as Désir didn't loosen his grip. Her voice was slightly less than a shout as she spoke over Sydni's indignant yell of, "But I never _did_ steal your damned taco!"

"Hello to you too, Sasha," Sakura replied coolly, "Where hast thou been? We didn't seem to get the same class this year, disappointing as it was. And you—!" Sakura turned her eyes back to Sasha's taller male companion, "_—LET THE HELL GO._"

The man looked at Sasha, who nodded absently, pouting at Désir in a pitiful attempt to convince him to let go of her.

Sakura snatched her hand back and glared at her former captor, who blinked emotionlessly; Sakura turned her back to him and scowled at Sasha, rubbing her wrist painfully.

"So I see that Paresse is still fine," she muttered.

Sasha was the only other dôji master that Sakura knew of and she was grateful that Sasha was on the same side. Fighting with teenage vampire had its pain and gain. Though how the energetic gothic became the master of Paresse, the sloth? Sakura was absolutely mystified.

Her thoughts were blown to pieces as Ireni screeched back, "Uh, _YEAH, _you did, I had sixteen!"

"Then get another one!" pleaded Sydni, "Here—!"

The girl flung some money across the table at Ireni, who said something unintelligible. Sasha rolled her eyes, sighing in irritation with Sakura. This was getting absolutely ridiculous and aggravating to the maximum.

"This is getting _insane_!" Sasha said the words that Sakura had been thinking, "They need to shut up, seriously! Nobody is even _slightly_ interested anymore!"

Sakura smirked, "This, coming from YOU? Dear god, the apocalypse is happening." Sasha stuck out her tongue. "But I do agree, they need to shut it."

Jealousy and Désir cocked eyebrows at this, wondering what exactly was being planned. Paresse looked blank as ever, to Sakura's frustration. He _needed _to show _some_ sort of emotion!

The two females stood there, enduring the stupidity for a few minutes more before slowly inching closer to the table. They pulled up chairs on either side of each girl, surprising the both of them. Sakura did her most well-known tactic and leaned back in the chair in a bored fashion, allowing the front legs to rise off the ground as she achieved the perfect balance. Sasha, however, leaned across the table, head resting on her hands.

"So guys, what's the dealio?" Sakura quoted expertly, lifting her head slightly to look at the two younger people at the table.

"She stole my taco," Ireni said immediately, jabbing an accusing finger at Sydni, who protested, and Sasha grinned sweetly into her face.

"Hey, you seem like a nice kid, right?" she gave off the aura that she was speaking to a two year old and Ireni seemed offended, "So do the world a favor, hunh? _SHUT THE HELL UP,_ m'kay?" she gave a sparkling smile, flashing her teeth again.

Sakura arched an eyebrow, her face expressing her thoughts that Sasha needed to be locked up in an asylum for life. However, the two girls looked absolutely astounded that they had drawn the attention of two older girls, let alone the whole town.

"Yeah..." Sakura did that thing where her chair fell to the ground with a loud bang as she also leaned across the table. "Life's tough—_get over it._" She waved her hand absently, "I mean, like my philosophy goes, 'Life sucks. _THEN YOU DIE._" Capiche, everybody? Good." She rubbed both of her hands into the smaller girls' hair, messing it up entirely.

Ireni shirked away from Sakura's hand and turned to Sydni, "Fine, I'll stop. But Sydni—we're _done!"_ And with that, she stormed off.

Sakura exchanged a look with Sasha as the other girl left soon after, in the opposite direction.

"Seriously?" they both said simultaneously. "Drama, anyone?"

The two got up, Sakura paying for the girls' food with high irritancy, as they had forgotten to in their spectacle. They walked the streets, dôji trailing curiously behind, and talked as they did before the dôji had come into their life.

After about thirty minutes of aimless walking and chatting, Sasha stopped suddenly.

"Oh my god, I can't believe I forgot!" she said excitedly. "I think I found another one!"

Knowing Sasha, it could have been anything, so Sakura said rather unconcernedly, "Another...?"

"Another master, another dôji!" Sasha squealed in excitement and Sakura's eyes widened.

"Good or bad?" she said immediately, wondering if there would be trouble already.

"Pride, I think, so bad," Sasha replied, looking absolutely pleased with her news.

"Who?" was Sakura's next question.

"Akira Sarada, she's in my class this year. Um, she dyed her hair black; it's kinda short-ish... with red bangs? And she's 16 like us...!"

"And...?"

"Well, we're going out tonight, seeing as it is a Friday, so, want t' come? We're going to the Bat's Belfry; I know you know where I'm talking about."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "DUH, I practically live there?"

Sasha giggled. "Oh ja, I forgot about that. So be there?"

Sakura shrugged then nodded. "Sure, how fancy or formal is this gonna be?"

Sasha shrugged as well. "Wasn't gonna make a big deal out of this, so casual. Just wear what you're wearing now..."

"Oh thank _god!_" Désir exclaimed. "If I have to answer the 'how do you like _this_ outfit' survey one more time today, I'm going to end up blowing up this whole town, along with everybody in it!"

Sakura scowled at her dôji and there was a giggle from the bushes. Everybody spun around but Sakura didn't see anything. She was about to try her sharingan when Désir impatiently tugged on her arm.

"Come on, it's probably nothing..." he muttered, dragging her along. "Let's just GO."

"Yeah, probably nothing but a stupid rabbit," Jealousy retorted, irritated with Dèsir's self-importance.

Sasha and Sakura snickered. Dèsir spun around and glared furiously.

"What was that?"

He raised his hand to hit Jealousy and Jealousy raised his own to counter the attack. Quick as a flash, Sakura pulled her twin obsidian katana from her side, blocking both attacks with the flat of each blade. With another blink, the blades were at the throat of each dôji.

"Keep walking you two," she hissed, before sheathing her swords.

Sasha whistled, though gulping meekly as she walked away, pretending she saw nothing.

* * *

The group headed off as normal and went to the designated place of meeting as the sun went down and the street lights went on. They heard the music and voices exuding from the place before they actually got there.

Sakura turned around right before they went in, glancing around. She had sworn that she had heard something. Jealousy let out a slight mutter, followed with a smirk and the wind blew ominously. Dèsir and Paresse looked incredulous at his words, while Sakura looked irritated that she had missed what was said. They waved her off and she scowled, following Sasha in.

It was obvious who Akira was the minute they got there. His white hair stood out, right now slicked back in a style that reminded Sakura forcibly of Hidan and Draco Malfoy. His eyes demanded attention, one being a metallic, cold crimson, the other like a gleaming liquid gold. He was tall, Sakura guessed a year older in looks, but as a vampire, one could never tell. One hand was in the pocket of black jeans with red converses for shoes. The other had a drink that reeked suspiciously of blood, from what Sakura's heightened nose could tell. His ears were pierced, bearing crosses for a bizarre reason; Sakura wondered if they kept his power at a reasonably level for human socialization. He, of course, was pale, but in the dim light, no one could tell. He had a dark shirt, topped off with a red vest and Sakura noted that he also adorned her favorite colors. Sasha was right, this guy was drop dead hot. Maybe they would get along, but Sakura knew that was more than unlikely; their personalities would clash together like oil and water.

The two girls walked over, letting the dôji loosely mingle nearby to look normal and also to search for Orgullo.

Sasha waved and he held his glass up, swallowing, to acknowledge he knew of their presence.

"Hey Sasha, who might this be?" his tone was light, cheerful, but gave way that he already dominated this conversation. Sakura couldn't help but scowl.

"Uchiha Sakura, pleasure to meet you," she said darkly, pushing hair out of her eyes and letting him get a good look at her and hoping he would take the hint and dial down the arrogance.

"Sarada Akira, marvelous to meet your acquaintance," his tone was slightly chilled and they met each other's stare evenly. "I should take that you are the person who runs the 'Black Lace'?" he stated the name of the flourishing company with disdain. "If you don't mind me asking."

_Like hell, you would have asked anyway_, Sakura retorted in her mind but instead kept up the frosted politeness.

"I am, you are the newest heir to Sarada Inc?" she replied back.

He nodded. "Might I buy you ladies a drink?" he asked, with a voice that flaunted his wealth.

"Save your money, Sarada, I'll get it," Sakura said dismissively, though it was a retort in her own way as she continued, "My family does own the place, though I rather hate doing the paperwork, so I leave that to others. Fascinating what people will do for money, is it not?" she wanted to wipe that proud look off of his face and show him he wasn't the only one with money and power.

To her satisfaction, he frowned slightly.

"As you like it," he said, making his voice airy.

Sasha was watching the exchange and giggled obliviously as she went to order something.

Akira watched her go off and sipped from his drink. He wrapped his arm suddenly around Sakura.

"We don't have to hate each other." he said softly and she looked surpised.

_What the hell?_

He let go and sighed, "We could be great friends, I can sense your intelligence, as well as influence and power."

Sakura placed a few more inches between them before sighing herself.

"I suppose, but we're too alike. Friends... I suppose it would work but much of anything else and we'll be at each other's throats." she stated dryly. "Anyway, don't assume every girl will go for you," she added.

He looked offended, "What the hell is that supposed to— I wasn't—"

"Just something to remember, I can smell your arrogance." she rolled her eyes.

"I can sense your bloodlust, your envy." he countered quietly.

Sakura froze and looked at him, just sitting there calmly smirking.

"What can I say? Neither of us are human."

"True. Let's leave it at that," Sakura didn't want to go any further.

Sasha came back, playing with an umbrella that was in her drink.

"Soo, guys," she said, licking at her straw, "Anything get accomplished over here, aside from death glaring."

"Nope."

"Definitely not."

Sasha giggled.

"Yay, so we're all friends now!" she said, poking the two; she got disdainful irritation in return.

"I doubt you randomly come here every night to meet random men as hot as I—" that arrogance was driving Sakura up the wall "—so what brings you fine ladies here?" Sarada finished, looking at the two.

The three were now sitting at a high table, with tall chairs pulled up around. Sakura pulled a waiter over to order a glass of cider before answering.

"Sasha pulled me to this, she said that I should meet you and judge your lovely qualities for myself." Sakura replied, the verbal irony ringing through her words. "From what I see, you... Seem rather... Cavalier, shall we say?"

"Ah, is that all?" he asked in return, "I was under the impression there was a bit more?"

Sakura shrugged, snorting. She really wanted to lean her chair back, like usual, but seeing how she was a few feet in the air... She decided not to.

"There was, but I doubt you want to hear it." she replied steadily.

She kept her face as normal as possible, usually meaning dark and somewhat hateful, while Sasha looked excited from anticipation.

"Try me," he said, smirking, leaning across the table, with his elbow on the table.

"Alright, where's Orgullo, Mr. Pride Master?" Sakura said bluntly.

Akira nearly choked on his drink, spitting it to the side.

"I... He... What?" he managed, coughing.

"So you can be surprised, fascinating!" Sakura remarked, ignoring him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, flustered, face tinged slightly red. "Can you repeat that plea—"

"She asked you where Orgullo is," Sasha chirped happily, looking around.

"There's really no point in denying any of this, your pride is the worst I've ever seen. And if it's only you, I'll be thankful, I don't want to see anything worse." Sakura commented, taking a sip of the long awaited cider.

Sarada just blinked, gaping. His eyes widened and Sakura turned to see Jealousy and Dèsir walking up, Dèsir dragging a lazy Paresse behind him while also pushing a fiery red haired bulky man towards them. He looked annoyed but his other arm was seized in jealousy's grasp.

"Is this him?" Sakura arched an eyebrow while Sasha stared interestedly. Akira sat there, soundlessly, glaring at the man. "This is pride, Orgullo?"

"You should listen to what other people say," grumbled Dèsir as Jealousy nodded. "I told you what he looked like!"

Akira's eyes narrowed this time towards the girls sitting next to him.

"Who are you, how did you know about this—" he began, firing of questions.

"Get over yourself, dude." Sakura snapped, pulling up her right arm's sleeve to reveal a Karakuri Mon, the mark of the pledge. "We're masters. This is Jealousy—" she pointed at the stoic smirking boy, "—and Bunny Boy—" she pointed at Dèsir who gave an almost loathing glare, though he seemed to like the pet name.

"Paresse," Sasha said shortly, going back to gulping down the rest of her fifteenth Dr. Pepper.

Akira nodded slowly, looking like he had nearly had a coronary.

"Same side then, how fortunate. I doubt I'd want to get in a fight with the likes of you two." he said, though looking curiously at Sakura.

_Was that an insult or a compliment?_ Sakura wanted to know but settled for asking why the weird look.

"Why do you have two dôji?" he asked suspiciously. "I thought..."

"My mum always said I was a special girl with special talents," Sakura said in a 'shut the fuck up' voice. "I dunno, I just did, my qualities were equal, I guess."

She thought she heard Jealousy mutter something smirkingly and turned. Orgullo, looking more at comfort than his master, grinned, arching an eyebrow.

"What?" Sakura asked, but Jealousy shook his head.

"You'll see," he said mysteriously.

She sighed in frustration, the other two with her looking mystified at the dôji.

"Whatever," she snorted, turning around.

"So Akira, I wanted to know," Sasha said suddenly. "Do you know anyone else who might be a master?"

Akira and Sakura seemed surprised at the question and Sasha frowned.

"I can be intelligent when I like!" she snapped, sounding out of character. "Answer the question!"

"Uh... Not really," Sarada admitted, caught off guard, as Sakura gaped.

"Me neither, tough there's this kid in my one class," Sakura murmured, thinking. "We call him Bakachibi. His last name's Tasaki, I don't remember what his genuine first name is."

"Doesn't really matter, we don't need his name, we need what he represents," Sarada said sardonically and Sakura accidentally on purpose kicked him in the shin; he swore and winced causing Sasha to roll her eyes.

"Jesus, guys, quit fighting for a minute," she said and Sakura agreed, thinking that the apocalypse was nearing if Sasha was the one to have the most common sense.

"Alright," she muttered, turning back to Sarada, "Well, my guess is definitely wisdom, have you seen the grade point average of that guy? He's the only one I know who can hold his own against me in chess, so he's definitely got some intelligence."

"Well, that's something to consider," Akira murmured, staring absently at his empty drink. "We should start looking for other masters now; after all, we've found each other, the other masters can't be that far off in receiving dôji."

"I know I was the first, for a fact," Sakura said, draining the last of her own drink. "First master, I mean. And I agree, we should try scouting out these people and seeing if we can locate the dôji. A battle will come, and personally? I want it sooner than later, I'm itching to fight someone as strong as I."

"Like the ones before us, we could meet up with the other evil dôji and form an official alliance and meet their masters, just to be familiar," Akira, like Sakura, seemed to be so focused that they forgot to even toss each other stray hateful looks. "Create a strategy in order to beat the good, right?"

Sasha nodded, taking all this in with renewed excitement. Sakura glanced over and wondered if the hyperactive vampire was going to piss herself in anticipation.

"So let's try to find as many masters as possible, make... _friends_—" Sakura bit the word out painstakingly, "—with them, even if they are good. Then the masters might have some sort of hesitation when they fight us. Of course, it's of utmost importance that we ourselves do not genuinely make friends, as we have to kill these people."


End file.
